Britain is turning brown. Rivers are shrinking, reservoirs are falling, fish are struggling for oxygen, and more than 20 million people are living under hosepipe bans.
Across huge swathes of England and Wales, drought is becoming another stark sign of how quickly our climate is changing. This week temperatures could reach 36C, heat health alerts are being upgraded, and tinder-dry countryside means the threat of wildfires is growing by the day.
A New Pattern
Britain has always talked about the weather. We can no longer pretend this is simply another unusually hot summer. Successive heatwaves, drought, water shortages and dying rivers are becoming part of a disturbing new pattern. Our infrastructure was built for a climate that increasingly no longer exists.
That means urgent investment in reservoirs, water networks, flood and drought protection, healthier rivers and plans to protect vulnerable people from extreme heat.
Bigger Responsibility
But there is a bigger responsibility, too. Britain must keep cutting the pollution that is heating the planet. The evidence is now all around us. Climate change is no distant warning. It is happening here, in our fields, our rivers and our towns.
Thames Water 'Golden Handshake'
Thames Water is drowning in debt, leaking millions of litres and asking customers to stomach ever-higher bills. Yet somehow it has found £1million to hand its finance chief as a signing-on fee.
The company insists the payment to Steve Buck was necessary to attract and keep the people needed to rescue the business. Try telling that to families paying through the nose for a service that has become a byword for corporate failure.
Nobody doubts Thames Water needs talented people to clean up this mess. But rewards of this scale expose a culture where executives remain remarkably well insulated from the consequences of failure. Customers deserve clean water, reliable pipes and value for money. They should not be expected to bankroll executive excess.
Centurion
Ken Pusey has raised many glasses since the pint of Guinness that helped save his life from a Nazi rocket. Now the Royal Engineers veteran has reached the grand age of 100. After a century shaped by extraordinary luck, courage and service, here's to Ken and one more well-earned pint.
